The present invention generally relates to a fastening device, and more particularly, to a non-screwed fastening device for a peripheral device of a computer system.
Due to the rapid development of information technology, computer peripheral devices have become increasingly widespread. For example, hard disk drives (HDD), floppy disk drives (FDD) and compact disk read only memories (CD-ROM) are almost always the standard equipment within computers. As more and more devices are placed in the computer system, the complexity of physically installing and removing these peripheral devices is obviously increased. In particular, screws act as fastening devices for securing a peripheral device, but tool kits, e.g. screwdrivers, are needed to attach the peripheral device into the computer by these screws. Also, a large amount of screws is used in the set-up process of the peripheral device, resulting in inefficiency of installation and removal.
Referring to FIG. 1, this figure shows a HDD 100 fixed to a frame case 102 by screws according to the prior art. The HDD 100 is placed into the frame case 102 wherein the locating hole of the HDD 100 aligns with the opening of the frame case 102. Thereafter, a screwdriver is used to drive the screws 106 into locating holes 104 to fasten the HDD 100 to the frame case 102. According to another prior art technique, the HDD 100 is secured to the frame case 102 and then the frame case 102 is put into main body of the computer system. Afterwards, the frame case 102 is attached to the main body via a sliding fastener, but this also uses a lot of screws 106.
Consequently, when the screws 106 are used as fastening devices to install the HDD 100 according to prior art, not only auxiliary tools must be used to secure the HDD 100 to the frame case 102, but inconvenience in the maintenance process will be increased severely, as well. Installation and removal of the HDD 100 is thus inefficient.
The primary object of the present invention is to utilize a non-screwed fastening device for securing peripheral devices to a frame case such that the use of auxiliary tools in the loading and unloading screw process is not needed.
Another object of the present invention is to utilize a non-screwed fastening device to replace the screws with the non-screwed fastening device and to reduce the large amount of screws so that the installment and maintenance efficiency of the peripheral devices are greatly increased.
According to the above objects, the present invention sets forth a non-screwed fastening device for computer peripheral devices. The non-screwed fastening device essentially comprises a retaining ring and a shaft lever wherein the retaining ring, a cylindrical shape coupled to a carrier base, has a first annular edge, an inner ring flange and a second annular edge. The retaining ring includes a first annular edge, an inner ring flange and a second annular edge. The retaining ring also includes a plurality of slits dividing the retaining ring into a plurality of resilient portions arranged in an axial line of the retaining ring to make the retaining ring resilient. Also, the first annular edge essentially comprises a bevel for readily placing the shaft lever into the retaining ring.
At least a groove, preferably connected to any one of slits, is located in the inner surface of the retaining ring along an axial line thereof. In other words, these slits extend from the first annular edge to one end of the groove along the inner surface of the retaining ring. Alternatively, the groove also extends from the first annular edge to the second annular edge via the inner surface of the retaining ring.
The inner ring flange is disposed in the surface region of the retaining ring for buckling the retaining ring and the shaft lever. The second annular edge is buckled to one end portion of the carrier base and the second annular edge further contains a recess region for matching the structure of the shaft lever whereby the non-screwed fastening device can effectively lock the peripheral device in place.
The shaft lever, similar to a column in shape, having a irregular surface and coupled to the retaining ring, has a first circular flute, a second circular flute, a first end portion and a second end portion. The first circular flute located in the region of the shaft lever near the first end portion is buckled to the inner ring flange by the resilience of the retaining ring. The second circular flute located in the region of the shaft lever near the second end portion is selectively buckled to the inner ring flange. Additionally, there is a displacement range between the first circular flute and the second circular flute for moving the first end portion into the locating hole back and forth to secure the peripheral device.
The size of the first end portion corresponds to the standard specifications of the screws. The geometric shape of the first end portion is circular, rectangular or whatever shape correctly matches the locating hole of peripheral device. The second end portion further comprises a flange to handle the shaft lever. In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the first end portion preferably allows a shaft part to be embedded into one end of the shaft lever. Alternatively, a continuous structure is made up of the first end portion and the shaft lever together. One side region of the shaft lever further has at least a lug to be placed into the retaining ring along the groove by turning the shaft lever so that the lug is rapidly locked to the recess region.
In summary, the present invention of the non-screwed fastening device is applied to peripheral devices inside a computer system. During the set-up process of the peripheral devices, no auxiliary tools are needed to load and unload these peripheral devices into or from the frame case. Besides making the maintenance procedure easier, the non-screwed fastening device can effectively reduce the use of screws with respect to peripheral devices, thus avoiding leaving screws within the frame case where they might cause a short circuit.